R
redacted
Guest
Hello Jax,
I inflated the wing and did not discover a leak prior to the trip. I do not recall whether I fully inflated it or not. When I inflated the wing prior to jumping in the water I did not detect a leak. No hissing sounds. Nothing. While diving, I noticed that the OPV side of the wing would not hold gas. I was able to dive, but dove sideways since the air was shifted to the opposite side while diving horizontally. Once I got home and got into the pool, I still did not notice a leak while the wing was partially inflated. However, when I fully inflated it, there was a large flow of bubbles coming from the wing. That's when I knew there was a leak and sent it in for repair.
The injury to the bladder was in a location that I could not have possibly seen. When I received the new bladder, I inflated the wing and saw no problems. I did not disassemble the wing to inspect the bladder as it connected to the OPV from the inside. Once I noticed that the wing did not hold air on my trip, I took it home and checked it in the pool. Even normally inflated, there was no leak. Only when it was fully inflated did I notice air escaping from the area around the OPV. That's when I returned it for repair.
Clearly reaching a verdict beyond the shadow of a doubt here is unlikely to occur. But you have twice now acknowledged inflating (testing) the replacement wing when you received it from DSS and you did not notice any problem (leak). Granted, that does not absolutely mean that there was not an incipient defect that did not become apparent to either you or DSS, for whatever reason, until 2 months later in Cozumel. But when you consider that DSS tested the wing before shipping and you tested the wing upon receipt, what is one to think about the reasonable and likely cause of your wing failure?